1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an incubator equipped with an incubator base that is capable of supporting a bed base, a peripheral frame configured by first, second, third, and fourth wall portions attached to the incubator base in order to form an outer periphery of an infant accommodation space, and a top hood attached to at least one wall portion of the first to fourth wall portions in order to form an upper surface of the infant accommodation space.
2. Description of the Related Art
Incubators have conventionally been known as exemplified in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. H09-276343. In the incubator disclosed in JP-A No. H09-276343, an operator such as a doctor or nurse may administer various types of care as follows to an infant such as a newborn infant lying on the bed base disposed in the infant accommodation space in the incubator. Namely, the operator such as a doctor or nurse causes a movable wall portion configuring a front surface of an enclosure to be substantially a hanged-down state by swinging forth the movable wall portion outwardly from a substantially upright state (in other words, a closed state) using the vicinity of the lower end portion of the movable wall portion as a pivot point. Therefore, since the infant accommodation space is opened at its front surface, the operator such as a doctor or nurse may move closer to the infant from the opened front surface and then easily and quickly administer the necessary care to the infant. Furthermore, after administering the care, the operator may reclose the infant accommodation space by swinging back the substantially hanged-down movable wall portion in the opposite direction to the direction in which the movable wall portion has been swung forth.
However, in the incubator of JP-A No. H09-276343, the enclosure is disposed on top of the incubator base in order to form the infant accommodation space. In the enclosure, the wall portions other than the movable wall portion formed on the front surface of the enclosure (that is, the section of the front wall portion other than the movable wall portion, the rear wall portion, the left and right wall portions, and the top hood portion) and the incubator base are sequentially integrally connected to each other by adhering them to each other with an adhesive, for example, so that they cannot be easily separated. Therefore, when more than one of this incubator are simultaneously transported by transporting means such as a cargo ship, a freight train, or a truck, the per-unit cost of transporting the closed type incubators becomes relatively high because each of the closed type incubators is relative bulky.
Additionally, in this incubator, the mutual connections between the front, rear, and left and right wall portions, the top hood portion, and the incubator base cannot be separated. Therefore, if the body fluid or the like of an infant sticks to an adjacent section between the wall portions, and/or an adjacent section between the wall portions and the top hood portion, and/or an adjacent section between the incubator base and the wall portions (particularly, a gap therebetween), it is relatively difficult to thoroughly clean that section by wiping it down. Thus, when another infant is accommodated in the infant accommodation space in the incubator, since it is relatively difficult to thoroughly clean the gap or the like beforehand, there is the potential for the body fluid or the like to remain in the gap or the like and, as a result, the potential for the other infant to become infected becomes higher.
Furthermore, in this incubator, the connections between the front, rear, and left and right wall portions, the top hood portion, and the incubator base cannot be separated from each other. Therefore, when at least one of the wall portions or the top hood portion is partially or completely damaged, it is necessary to replace the entire combined structure of the enclosure and the incubator base configured by the four wall portions, the top hood portion, and the incubator base.